


On My Way

by little_alien_duck



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Modern AU, but really it's just friendship mostly, implied k/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26434918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/little_alien_duck/pseuds/little_alien_duck
Summary: Modern AU of the voyager crew on a backpacking trip.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	On My Way

The trip is supposed to last five days, and by the end of the first they are hopelessly lost. Kathryn is pissed because between the map and the blazes marking the trail it should be near impossible to get lost, and yet here they are. The map and the blazes don’t seem to agree and neither can any of them on which way is the right way to go. Ultimately, it will be Kathryn’s decision because she organized the trip so she’s ostensibly in charge, but she would like to have something of a consensus at least.

Kathryn decides to solve this problem by using the same method she did all of her history homework in seventh grade: put off doing it until tomorrow. They make camp in a clearing just far enough from the trail that Kathryn can’t see the fork staring her down. There’s about two hours of good sunlight left, and Neelix is itching to make the chili recipe he found four months ago when they started planning this trip.

…

The fire won’t start, and when B’Elanna and Harry wander back down the trail in search of drinking water, Harry returns with a half empty jug, a scraped knee, and a very angry B’Elanna in tow.

“I told you to watch where you’re going, NASA,” she growls at him as she snatches the bottle and stalks back off down the trail. As mad as she sounds, he knows she’s really just worried because she’s using the same silly nickname she used the day they met. She’d never met anyone with the same level of wide-eyed enthusiasm for their job as Harry Kim.

Not helping anyone’s mood is the fact that nobody has had anything to eat but Clif bars since lunch. Lugging their bodies over these switchbacks would be difficult even without their packs weighing them down. They’re all tired. It looks like it might be a long five days.

…

Things start to look up when they’ve finally got food in their bellies. The recipe Neelix made is good, if a little unusual. That’s how most of Neelix’s recipes are. The Doctor patches up Harry’s knee with only minimal grumbling. A little grumbling means you’re fine, and the Doctor’s in a good mood. A lot of grumbling means you’re fine, and the Doctor’s in a bad mood. No grumbling means you should probably be putting a will together.

After they eat Tom starts singing silly campfire songs, and everyone but Tuvok joins in once they’re done making fun of him. Their faces flicker in the half light of their slowly dying fire, and it’s easy to forget how lost they are.

…

Kathryn wakes up the next morning with a decision made. They’re going to follow the blazes because the map might be out of date, but the blazes probably aren’t. Better to exit the trail in a slightly different place than they’d planned than to have the trail run out on them in the middle of the woods. Anyone who disagrees is free to go the other way, but Kathryn won’t be joining them. She makes this clear as they eat trail mix for breakfast.

No one objects because even if they do think Kathryn is wrong, they don’t have a compelling argument as to why.

They play stupid word games as they hike that Harry learned at a summer camp years ago. The only one who gives Harry any real competition is Tuvok when he can be enticed to actually participate. Kathryn makes a valiant attempt but mostly succeeds in making herself frustrated when she can’t figure out an answer. Chakotay laughs at her but pretends he isn’t because if he’s learned one thing in their years of friendship, it’s that Kathryn Janeway’s bad side is a nasty place to be.

Around lunchtime they hit a waterfall that looks like something right out of a nature documentary, far too perfect to be real. The water is clear and cold. It runs fast enough to spray them all with a fine mist that cools their sweaty faces. The stones are glossy and smooth, and the moss looks softer than any mattress.

“Hot damn,” Tom says, craning his neck and shielding his eyes from the sun. This more than anything else makes Kathryn confident they have gone the right way.

…

Early the next morning, just as soon as Kathryn is starting to believe nothing else can go wrong, a new problem arises. A section of trail is closed. A rock slide the crooked, hand-painted sign reads. Tom is all for trying their luck, park rangers be damned. Kathryn vetoes that idea.

“We’ll just have to double back a bit and pick up a different trail, they all lead to the same place.”

It’s going to add at least a couple of miles to their journey. By mid afternoon, they’re mostly walking in the right direction, and Chakotay suggests they stop for the night, take the rest of the afternoon off.

“The Doc has been complaining for the past mile and a half, and Tuvok might finally snap and kill Neelix if he tries to cheer him up again,” he says quietly enough that no one but Kathryn can hear him. She’s leading the way, and with Tom and B’Elanna having a spirited debate behind them, Chakotay is pretty sure they’re safe from eavesdroppers.

“Just a mile further. This next campsite is worth it. Trust me.”

“I always do.”

…

The campsite is worth it, even though it ends up being closer to two miles away than one. It looks like it should exist in a camping magazine, not the real world. It’s old growth forest with big, gnarled trees that provide a perfect canopy over their tents. Just to the side is a river with water more clear than what comes out of the tap. There’s a mad scramble to peel off socks and shoes and stick their sore feet in the water.

After days of sweating and tramping through the woods and not showering, the water feels incredible. They spend longer than they planned splashing around. Tom starts a splash war intending to soak Harry but misses entirely and hits Chakotay instead. Chakotay cannot let this insult stand and retaliates in kind. From there it’s all out war. It only ends when Neelix announces it’s time to make dinner.

…

The night is clear, and the stars are bright. Despite how tired they are, they stay awake until long after their fire has been reduced to embers. They are sprawled across the ground or are dipping their toes in the water.

“Do you think there are really other universes out there?” Harry asks. He’s laying on his back, hands pillowed beneath his head as he looks out at the sky.

“I’d like to think so,” Kes says. Her chin rests on her knees, and she stares into the fire like it’s the only thing that exists.

“It is a plausible theory of modern physics,” Seven says.

“What do you think is going on in those other universes? Do you think we all know each other?” Harry is still staring straight at the stars. He’s an engineer; the multiverse isn’t really his subject, but faced with the magnitude of the cosmos it’s hard not to speculate.

No one answers immediately. The question hangs in the air between them while they decide whether or not to take it seriously.

“It seems statistically unlikely that we would all have met in a universe that is significantly different from our own,” Tuvok says finally.

“But isn’t the thought nice?” Kes says through a yawn. She’s taken to leaning against Neelix as she struggles to stay awake.

“I certainly think so,” Kathryn says. She thinks she and Chakotay are being subtle, laying with their shoulders pressed against each other. They’re not fooling anyone.

“I think there’s a universe where we’re all exploring the galaxy, the crew of a starship or something.” Tom is in the middle of a science fiction binge, and it bleeds into all of his conversations.

B’Elanna snorts. “Oh please, and I bet you think you’d be the pilot too.”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” Tom has to raise his voice slightly over the others’ laughter. “You and Harry would be the engineering dream team and Tuvok would be the security chief who keeps us all in line and-“

“Knock it off, Tom. Harry was asking a genuine question.” B’Elanna says it without any real heat, but he falls silent anyway.

After a moment a quiet, Harry speaks up again. “I think Kathryn would be the captain.”

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Kathryn says. In the moonlight the flush of her cheeks is just visible, but a hint of flattery hides in her voice.

“I don’t think it’s that hard to believe, you are our fearless leader on the trail after all,” Chakotay says. The others chime in their agreement, and Kathryn buries her face behind her hands. She’s got a goofy smile she can’t quite hide.

“Captain Janeway, I think I like the sound of that,” she says, her voice slightly muffled.

There’s a soft silence only broken by a low rumble. Neelix is snoring, which is a sign that it’s time for bed. They crawl into their sleeping bags, whispering goodnight.

When they wake the next morning with sunrise, Harry looks to Kathryn and says, “Where to next, Captain?” He gestures to the path ahead of them, which forks just down the way. It’ll be her decision, just like last time.

Kathryn double checks her map even though she is pretty sure she already knows the answer. “Left,” she says.

“Aye aye, Captain,” Tom and Chakotay both say at the same time. They turn to each other, clearly outraged that their joke was not as original as they thought it would be, and Kathryn laughs.

_The nickname is gonna stick_ , she thinks and is surprised she doesn’t mind.

They start walking into the morning, toward the next stop on their adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> yes the song title IS from the song "On My Way" from Brother Bear, get with it.


End file.
